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Be a Bombshell in a Bikini: Part 2 – Eat More to Slim Down

Food. Ah food. How I love it. I love to cook it. I love to share it.

I especially love to eat it.

I love trying new restaurants and recipes. I like giving new ingredients a chance and old favorites new flavors. For me, food is a source of pleasure. And it plays a big part of my life and I’m guessing it might in yours too.

Food is also an incredibly powerful tool for body change. Why? Because it can drastically affect the body’s hormonal environment. And the hormonal environment is key to determining the body’s composition (how much of your body weight is fat or muscle).

Do you know what this means?? This means that just by changing up what we eat, we can change how much fat we carry on our body. We can change how we look.

We can get our athletic body back (or get beach ready) if we eat MORE of the RIGHT foods to turn on our fat burning metabolism.

Yep you heard me right – to change your body and lean out, you probably need to eat MORE food.

[The food lover in me is doing a happy dance right now]

This shocks most people because in our society the eat less, exercise more mantra is the foundation of most weight loss programs. But notice above I said more of the RIGHT foods.

This is key because not all calories are created equal. Here’s an example that really cleared this up for me….

Say you have a generic donut and a medium-sized chicken breast. They both have approximately the same number of calories (around 200). So if calories are all that matters, then it doesn’t matter whether you choose the chicken breast or the donut.

BUT let’s think about this a little more…

If calories really were the only important thing, then the donut and the chicken breast should keep you satisfied for the same amount of time, give you the same energy levels in the hours that follow and have the same impact on cravings later in the day. (Is anyone else giggling a little at the thought of NOT crashing after a donut???)

If you’re completely honest with yourself, you’ll probably see that the donut and the chicken breast affect you in very different ways.

For me, about 45 min after I eat a donut (assuming I’m able to eat only one), my head starts feeling fuzzy and my energy tanks. If I’m tracking cravings, then I’d probably notice that later that day, I’m wanting more sugary or fatty foods. Also, if by some miracle I managed to eat only 1 donut, I probably never stopped being hungry.

Now let’s pretend I ate the chicken breast instead (a delicious one of course). After eating the chicken breast, I don’t have any noticeable drop in energy 45 min later. Also, I’m not hungry for another few hours, and there are no noticeable cravings later on in the day. Plus, I don’t really see myself eating more than 1 or maybe 1 1/2 chicken breasts in one sitting…

But how is this possible if they both have the same number of calories? Something about them has to be different because their effects on me are different.

The answer? They are influencing my hormones in unique ways. It’s the only way to explain differences in satiety, energy levels, cravings and hunger.

Why are they affecting hormones differently? Because the macronutrient profiles of the foods that are different.

[Don't freak out on me... All I mean by macronutrient profile is what the food is made of - what percent of the food is fat, carbohydrates, and protein?]

See how just by changing what we eat, we can tell the body to do different things via our hormones? We won’t get into the nitty gritty of the hormone world today, but it’s important to realize that body change just isn’t about calories.

Yes, you do need a caloric deficit to lose weight, but you need the right hormonal environment to make sure that weight is fat, not muscle. (We talked last week about why we want to save our muscle. You can read about that here.) Plus, with the right hormonal environment, you won’t constantly be hungry, exhausted and craving junk food.

If these are balanced (meaning you’re not hungry, you have high energy and you’re not craving crap food) and you’re losing fat, you’re in a longterm, fat-burning zone. If they’re not balanced, you’re likely NOT burning fat. Or if you are, it’s probably not sustainable for longer than a few weeks.

Alright let’s get practical now. How can you eat to get your HEC in check?
Follow these tips below…

1. Eat 4-6 small meals per day — Eating several smaller meals allows you to eat more frequently and never get ravenously hungry between meals since that often leads to overeating junk food. If you choose the right foods for these meals, you can help keep your energy balanced throughout the day, too. But a big part of frequent meals is to keep yourself from getting crazy hungry.

2. Eat lean proteins and fibrous veggies — We want to increase our food volume without increasing the number of calories we consume (this helps keep our hunger down). To do that choose foods high in water, fiber and protein content. These will help you stay satisfied for longer, so include these at each small meal. (see this post for approximate protein serving sizes)

A good way to think of it? Eat your protein at the meal plus as many fibrous veggies as you want.

3. Drink LOTS of water — Being dehydrated can negatively effect your energy and brain function, and by the time you’re feeling thirsty, you’re already dehydrated. Keep a water bottle with you and drink as much as possible…. even up to 3-4L a day. Don’t worry, your body WILL adapt to the increased fluid intake and the number of trips to the bathroom will decrease, I promise!

4. Limit foods that tend to trigger cravings and hunger — I love my coffee but my early morning 2-3 cup habit tends to trigger cravings in the evening for me. So I’ve had to reduce that a little… Other culprits? Artificial sweeteners and sweet snacks can do the same thing. Limit these guys as much as possible.

5. Get your healthy fats in — Certain dietary fats are actually required to burn fat! So don’t be afraid of the good ones like Omega-3 fats (6 and 9 are good too!) Have a few servings each day of healthy fats – 1/4c nuts, 1/2 an avocado, 6oz fish, or 2 Tbs olive oil or coconut oil are each 1 serving. Also, consider a fish oil supplement.

{This next one is a big one….}

6. Limit starchy carbohydrates — Things like pasta, potatoes, cookies, bread, rice, crackers, etc (while very delicious) are considered starchy carbs and should be consumed in limited amounts. Starchy carbs in general can wreak havoc on your body in the hormonal sense if you eat too many too often. Carbs aren’t to be avoided at all cost because you do need them, but you gotta be aware of how much of them you’re eating.

In general, I personally like to avoid the ones I just listed above and stick to mostly starchy vegetables like sweet potatoes, carrots, corn, all different kinds of squash (spaghetti squash is my fav), and eggplant. If you want, you can also do oat bran, oatmeal, brown rice or quinoa.

Oh, because of how fruit breaks down in the body, I also consider fruit as starchy carbs in my diet. They usually make an appearance in my breakfasts and “desserts”.

Anyway how much to eat? I like to measure starchy carbs by bites. It’s far better than weighing or measuring out your food.

Most people do well with 5-10 bites of starchy carbs at each meal. However, everyone is different so you may do better with more at each meal or less. This amount of carbs where your energy is high enough for a good workout and you’re burning fat is called your carbohydrate tipping point. It takes a while to find this usually, but it’s important for shedding body fat. You can learn more about it here (a Metabolic Effect blog on the subject).

Alright that’s probably enough for now As with anything, implement changes in small steps first.

It might be way too much to change your eating frequency AND what you’re eating all at once. So consider changing 1 meal this week. Then change up another meal next week. Then add in a 4th to your typical 3 meals and decrease the size of all the meals slightly.

Example – maybe this week instead of cereal and orange juice, go for scrambled eggs with onions/peppers/spinach in it and your 5-10 bites of oatmeal at breakfast. Then next week, keep those changes and change up your lunch to a big old salad with chicken breast and balsamic vinaigrette dressing. Get the idea?

Keep an eye on your HEC as you make changes, and if you have questions let me know! Ask away here in the comments or find me on Facebook or Twitter